Unravelling Isobel, by Eileen Cook | Book Review #181

“Isobel’s life is falling apart. Her mom just married some guy she met on the Internet only three months before and is moving them to his sprawling, gothic mansion off the coast of nowhere. Goodbye, best friend. Goodbye, social life. Hello, icky new stepfather, crunchy granola town, and unbelievably good-looking, officially off-limits stepbrother.
But on her first night in her new home, Isobel starts to fear that it isn’t only her life that’s unraveling—her sanity might be giving way too. Because either Isobel is losing her mind, just like her artist father did before her, or she’s seeing ghosts. Either way, Isobel’s fast on her way to being the talk of the town for all the wrong reasons.”

I got this book on a whim while picking up books from the library and I’m not quite sure if I should be happy that I did..

Unraveling Isobel is a fast paced story. And when I mean fast, I mean fast. I’ve read this book faster than normal. There’s just something about this book that had me turning page after page, reading impossibly fast. The writing in this novel is authentic. I actually felt like Isobel was telling me this story of how she managed to put a madman in police custody. And of course her plan didn’t really go to her plan…but there was the outcome that she wanted.

I was quickly sucked into the Isobel’s world. And I liked her right away. I mean, she made lists, and complained about her step-dad. Both of those things don’t appeal to many, I should know. With Isobel though, in her own, sarcastic way, its somehow different that all the other characters who act like that. Isobel is more her own person than any other I know. She takes control of situations that she know she could handle. And with what happens in the book, there aren’t many times she could stand up for herself. Isobel is resilient.

If there is one thing that I learned while reading Isobel’s story, it’s that she is so resilient. She overcame two antagonists in this story. I don’t think many characters get that chance in regular novels, let alone, a standalone. Isobel was the new kid to the block and she stood up for herself when she felt it was appropriate. She didn’t let her antagonists bring her down. She took what she could and when the time came, and she felt ready, she showed them their own medicine.

Even though she has her difficulties in this story, above all I think what’s important is that she believed in herself. She did what she felt was right.

Another thing that I like about Unraveling Isobel is that there are ghosts in this story. This is like a ghost story, but the story isn’t all the creepy or all that gory compared to other books. The second reason why I like this book is because in the story there are characters who have mental illness and disabilities. And through that, ultimately it leads to Isobel talking about this subject in a really mature way.

This ultimately brought people forward with their own issues, or brought up that they knew someone with a mental illness.

One thing that I didn’t like about this book is that once the step-siblings got over their situation, they kind of became a couple. Ew. There wasn’t any sex though. Which in my case, I am super happy about.

Welcome!

Hello, my name is Adele. I’m a 20-something year-old bibliophile, living on the West Coast of Canada. Here, on Adele Is Reading, I mainly post book reviews and bookish related content talking about the books I’ve read.
I mostly read Young Adult (YA), New Adult (NA), but I tend to branch out into other points of view (genres) as well.